Condenser



0. F. KETTERING CONDENSER Filed Dec. 20, 1920 March 10, 1925.

UPZYE Patented Mar. 10, 1925;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE...

cnAELEs'E. KE'rrEEIEe, OF DAYTON, 0310, ASSIGNOR, BY mun ASSIGNMENTS, 'ro GENERAL MOTORS RESEARCH CORPORATION, or DAYTON, omo, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

CONDENSER.

Application filed December 20, 1920. Serial No. 431,866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. KETrER- ING, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Dayton, county of Montgomery, and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Condensers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to condensers, and in the preferred form of embodiment, which has been chosen for the purpose of description and illustration, relates particularly to condensers for refrigeration systems.

In refrigeration systems of the so-called domestic type, it has heretofore been usual to utilize condensing chambers over the surface of which water was allowed to flow and in those systems wherein air condensers were used, it has been found necessary, in order to get sufl'icient condensing surface, to form such condensers from a very long pipe of small diameter wound into rather large coils. The objection to such forms of condensers is that, in the case of the water cooled type, the water supply is not always reliable and when such supply fails, the condensing action is practically nil. In the case of the ordinary type of air cooled condenser, the

large coils considered necessary to accompllsh the condensing actlon, have OCCIlPlBd' considerable space and are not particularly efiicient.

Among the objects of the present invention, therefore, is a condenser which is air cooled, which is very efficient, and which for a given size of refrigeration system, shall be relatively small.

Further objects and advantages of the 40 present invention will be apparent, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of a condenser made in accordance with the present invention, the section being taken onthe line 11 of Fig. 2,

furnished with a suitable inlet 11 and outlet 12 carrying, upon both the inner and outer surfaces of the annulus, cooling elements indicated at 13 and 15, respectively. Surrounding the whole is a casing or draft tube 14 of suitable material in order that the cooling air may be confined to the surfaces of the cooling elements 15 and compelled to flow over said cooling elements rather then be dissipated and thus be ineffective. This casing when made of heat conducting material also furnishes additional surface for heat dissipation. 1

These cooling elements are preferably made of thin sheet copper and are attached to the walls of chamber 10 which may be of iron or steel, or some other suitable metal, even copper, and in effective thermal contact therewith. The cooling elements or fins are formed from sheet metal which is bent to produce undulations or corrugations havin flat sides and substantially right angle bends, though it will be apparent that the cooling elements may be of any desired shape or proportions. Referring to Figs. 4 and 5 whlch show the position of the cooling elements when applied with one side in contact with the outer or the inner surfaces of the annular chamber 10, it will be observed that the transverse flat surfaces of the corrugated strip dispose themselves radially with respect to the annular member, as is also shown in Fig. 2. The attachment of the cooling members to the chamber 10 is preferably accomplished by a suitable brazing operation such as is described and claimed in application, Serial No. 392,646, filed June 29, 1920, but in some cases soldering has been found to give good results.

A casing or draft tube 14 surrounds the annular chamber 10 in contact with the cooling elements 15 on the outer surface or side thereof, and cooperates therewith to provide longitudinally extending tubes, as is best shown in Fig. 2. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated the cooling elements 13 on the inner surface of the annular chamber 10 are arranged with their adjacentcorrugations at one side in contact with one another thereby providing a central circular opening or tube surrounded by aseries of tubes of alternately triangular and rectangular cross sectionsfas best shown in Figs. 2 and 5. It may thus be said that the opening through the annular chamber is filled with tubes, though it will be understood that the shape and proportions of the corrugations may be varied as desired to provide a larger or smaller number of tubes without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

In Fig. 3 there is represented a refrigeration system using the condenser described. In this figure the expansion chamber is represented conventionally at E, the compressor at P, the condenser at C and a suitable fan or blower for supplying air to the condenser is indicated at B.

The condenser is herein shown as directly connected with the blower thereby eliminating all unnecessary resistance losses incident to the use of pipe connections between the blower and the condenser. The condenser is mounted on the blower housing and preferably in a vertical position thereon above the blower whereby the heated air is discharged upwardly. From the above description it will be apparent that therehas been provided a condenser apparatus particularly suitable for use in small refrigerators for household use wherein the qualities of simplicity and compactness without loss of efliciency are of paramount importance. 7

-While the form of mechanism herein shown and described constitutes a preferred embodiment of one form of the present invention, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, and various changes and alterations made in the shape, size, and proportion of the elements therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. V

What I claim is as follows:

1. A condenser of theclass described comprising a blower casing; an inner cylindrical condensing chamber and an outer cylindrical casing surrounding said chamber and spaced apart therefrom, both said elements being supported by and located above said blower casing; and a continuous strip of metal, are

ranged within the space between said chamber and casing and which strip is'bent to provide cooling portions or elements spaced apart from one another and extending across the space aforesaid, and attaching portions intermediate successive cooling elements; alternate ones of said attaching ele-' ments being in contact with the exterior surface of said condensing chamber, and with the interior surface of said outer casing.

2. In a condenser of the class described, an inner condensing chamber cylindrical in form and an outer cylindrical casing surrounding said chamber and spaced apart therefrom, and a continuous strip of metal arranged within the space between said members and bent to provide cooling portions or elements spaced apart from one another and extending across the space aforesaid, and attaching portions intermediate successive cooling elements; alternate ones of said attaching elements being in intimate contact with the exterior surface of said condensing chamber, and in contact also with the interior surface of said outer casing; and means for forcing air through the passages between said cooling elements.

3. Acondenser of the class described comprising an inner condensing chamber cylindrical in form and an outer casing surrounding said chamber and spaced apart therefrom, and a continuous strip of metal arranged within the space between said members and bent to provide cooling portions or elements spaced apart from one another and extending across the space aforesaid, and flat attaching portions intermediate successive coolin elements; alternate ones of said flat attaching elements being in contact with the exterior surface of said condensing chamber, and'with the interior surface of said outer casing, to thereby provide areas of contact of considerable extent between said attaching strip and said condensing chamber and outer casing.

4. A condenser of the class described comprising an inner condensing chamber and an outer casing surrounding said chamber and spaced apart therefrom, and a continuous strip of metal arranged within the space between said members and bent to rovide cooling portions or elements space apart from one another and extending across the space aforesaid, and attaching portions intermediate successive cooling elements; alternate'ones of said attaching elements being in contact with the exterior'surface of said condensing chamber, and with the interior surface of saidouter casing.

5. A condenser of the class described comprising an inner annular cylindrical con metal arranged within the space between densin chamber, and with the interior sursaid members and bent to provide cooling face 0 said outer casing. portions or elements spaced apart from one In testimony whereof I hereto aflix my another and extending across the space signature.

5 aforesaid, and attaching portions interme- CHARLES F. KETTERING.

diate successive cooling elements; alternate Witnesses: ones of said attaching elements being in con- LEE EMRIGK,

tact with the exterior surface of said con- ALVINA C. LEHMAN. 

